Another big season at the Metropolitan Opera has come and gone. The 2018-19 was a rather fascinating one from a repertory perspective, offering up a wide range of music from some of the greatest composers. The year wound up being a mixed bag of sorts from a quality standpoint with the best performances arguably taking place once the calendar turned {…}
The Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia has announced its 2019-20 season featuring some of the world’s most renowned soloists. For this article we will only focus on the concert featuring vocal performances. The season opens with Antonio Pappano conducting Javier Camarena in Berlioz’s Requiem “Grande Messe des morts.” Performance Dates: Oct. 10-12, 2019 Mikko Franck conducts Verdi’s Messa da Requiem {…}
“Don Pasquale” is often considered Donizetti’s comic masterpiece, and if it is not perform as regularly as Donizetti’s “ L’Elisir d’Amore” one need not look further than the demanding part written for the tenor; but when you have Javier Camarena in the cast, you have no reason to worry about anything. But this production was not only about the great {…}
The Teatro Real has announced its 2019-20 season featuring seven Teatro Real premieres and three Spanish premieres. Here is a look at what to expect. The season opens with Verdi’s “Don Carlo“ with Nicola Luisotti conducting a production by David McVicar. The opera returns after a 14 year absence with Francesco Meli, Andrea Carè, and Alfred Kim sharing the title {…}
This weekend is all about the stars. From Vienna to Germany to the United Kingdom, every cast has some of the world’s greats performing. Check out this weekend’s picks! Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci – Wiener Staatsoper, Austria Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s production continues at the Vienna house with a starry cast that includes Yonghoon Lee singing Turiddu and Fabio Sartori as Canio. Elina Garanca stars {…}
The Deutsche Oper Berlin has announced its 2019-20 season, which will include six new productions and dozens of revivals with some of opera’s greatest stars. New Productions The first new production of the season will be Verdi’s “La Forza del Destino.” The production will be directed by Frank Castorf and will star Russell Thomas and Marcelo Alvarez as Don Alvaro. {…}
The Gran Teatre del Liceu has announced its 2019-20 season with numerous new productions, revivals, rarely performed works and concerts by some of the biggest stars in the world. Franc Aleu makes his operatic debut directing a new production of Puccini’s “Turandot” with Irene Theorin in the title role alongside Jorge de Leon and Ermonela Jaho as Liù. Lise Linstrom {…}
The Opéra National de Paris has announced its 2019-20 seasons which will feature a total of 19 operas and the entire Ring Cycle in an all-new production. Bellini’s “I Puritani” opens the season in a production by Laurent Pelly. Elsa Dreisig takes the leading role with Javier Camarena and Francesco Demuro sharing the role of Arturo. Riccardo Frizza conducts the {…}
Javier Camarena has made Met Opera history singing the first solo encore in a Live in HD performance. During the final performance of Donizetti’s “La Fille du Regiment” at the Metropolitan Opera, Camarena repeated the final part of “A Mes Ami.” In total he sang 18 high Cs in the performance. With this final performance, Camarena encored during all seven {…}
The Met Opera’s Live in HD series continues this Saturday, March 2, 2019 with a performance of Donizetti’s comic gem “La Fille du Régiment.” The broadcast, which kicks off 12:55 p.m. Eastern time, will feature Pretty Yende as the titular heroine Marie. Starring as Tonio and tasked with singing nine high C’s will be tenor Javier Camarena. Other cast members {…}
The Metropolitan Opera has announced its 2019-20 season with five new productions, a New Year’s Eve gala, and a recital. Here is a look at what to expect. New Productions The season opens with Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” in a new production by James Robinson. The production stars Eric Owens and Kevin Short sharing the title role of Porgy and {…}